The Smile You Send Out Returns To You, the latest full-length by Constant Follower out now via Last Night From Glasgow, is described by the band as “a song cycle that tackles addiction and recovery, parenthood and the impact of kindness.” While such a synopsis might sound ambitious in its own right, it only begins to scratch the surface of the multimedia project that has been built to support and accentuate the music. The project has always gestured towards other artforms, lead Stephen McAll drawing on autobiography (most notably for of debut Neither Is, Nor Ever Was) and poetry (such as that of Norman MacCaig on Even Days Dissolve recorded with Scott William Urquhart) strongly in his writing, and thoughtfully staged and recorded live sessions have often accompanied the releases. But The Smile You Send pushes the cross-disciplinary ideals to the max. Heather Nevay’s striking artwork is central to the album, and has even been animated by Thrown Light to further its sense of life. A variety of artists and filmmakers also leant their talents to make a short film for each and every song. “I love collaborating with people,” as McAll puts it. “For me, the magic in music is collaboration. Most of what I do is focussed on finding the right people. Then I sit here and work through the pieces of the jigsaw.”
The resulting release is both consistently beautiful and uniquely equipped to tackle the range of themes it wraps its arms around, lending near equal weight to the supporting artwork as it does the songs themselves. The style is introduced through the title track opener, where Constant Follower expound upon the maxim of the album’s name with their signature thoughtfulness and empathy. Utilising the tactile charms of plasticine stop-motion, animator, illustrator and puppeteer Emerson New breathes further humanity into the track.
Don’t forget what you said
The smile you send out returns to you
The rest of the record is just as attentive and complete, and each listener will likely have their own standouts. “Fingerpicked guitar evokes a searching emotional resonance, the track in many ways subdued but possessing a definite sense of power,” we wrote of ‘Whole Be’, “some charge in the vocals and harmonies lifting the otherwise grounded folk style towards something almost ethereal.” Again striking in its empathetic tone, the song details the contradiction inherent in the way we long for wholeness while acknowledging imperfection, forgoing the notion of completeness to instead champion the sense of meaning attained via perpetual striving. As though on some fundamental level, to be human is to be always wishing for something more. Watch the video directed by and starring Peter Lilly, Code Word Zebra below:
‘Almost Time To Go’ sees Andy Aquarius add harp, “crafting,” as we wrote in a preview, “a sound shadowy yet shot through with light, carrying a message of endurance in a typically compassionate manner,” while ‘All Is Well’ “mine[s] the title for all of its complications,” as we put it, “delving into the ways in which the contemporary reliance on comfort and convenience masks an ever-present dread below the surface of our society.” The latter, complete with its video filmed and directed by Kris Boyle, is an example of the real-life stories underpinning McAll’s work, the track dedicated to Jake ‘Taurus Mortimer’, a young person killed in the care of NHS Forth Valley Psychiatric services back in 2023.
“For an album which deals with such profound themes, it sounds disarmingly tranquil,” we wrote of Neither Is back in 2022. “But head more than an inch below the surface and darker waters lie. Because within the humble rhythm pull a variety of currents, conflicting forces which culminate in a sense of tension. A struggle between calmness and distress, between the real and imaginary, and indeed between the desire for and fear of such clear boundaries.” With The Smile You Send, Constant Follower don’t so much further their meditation on such themes as expand it, drawing a myriad of others into the work both in terms of the subject matter of the songs and the actual practical matter of their creation. The fact the release is no less heartfelt and intimate then its predecessors is a testament to McAll’s writing and the skill of his collaborators, but also, and perhaps most importantly, evidence that the convictions which underpin its every aspect bear fruit within the real world. The receptive soul will finds others and thereby comfort. The smile you send out returns to you.
The Smile You Send Out Returns To You is out now via Last Night From Glasgow and you can get it from the Constant Follower Bandcamp page.
Artwork by Heather Nevay, design by Timothy O’Donnell